Consumers wait for new vegetables to arrive in the market, so any new vegetable fetches sky-high prices at first, and new winter vegetables are a little dearer. But the summer vegetable drumstick (sajna data) has broken all past records: new-season drumsticks in Khulna's markets are being offered at Tk 400 a kg.

The price was found by checking markets in Khulna city and nearby upazilas. Traders say untimely rain and gusty winds cut the drumstick crop this year, so prices are higher.

Drumsticks, rich in iron, calcium and antioxidants, are very effective for health protection, and tasty too.

Md Mosaddek Hossain, agriculture officer of Dumuria upazila near Khulna, told Jago News: "Compared with other years, drumstick trees had abundant flowers and buds this time, but they fell in the gusty winds and rain in February. The amount of flowering had given farmers hope. Had the weather been good, we would have had an unexpectedly large crop."

Traders at Khulna's Tutpara Jorakal bazar, Mistripara bazar, Sandhya bazar and Gallamari bazar said drumsticks have started arriving and are selling at Tk 380 to Tk 400 a kg. Buyers are purchasing despite the high price.

Munna, Asadul Howlader and Miraj Dhali, traders at Sandhya bazar in the city's Moylapota area, told Jago News: "Drumsticks came to the market three or four days ago. They have been selling at Tk 400 a kg from the start."

Hadiuzzaman, a farmer in Tetultala, Batiaghata upazila, told Jago News his drumstick trees had flowered heavily this year, but the flowers fell in the rain and wind, so the yield will not be very high.

Dr SM Nahid Kamal Sumon, a medicine specialist at Shaheed Sheikh Abu Naser Specialised Hospital, said drumstick has many benefits. Its pods, flowers and leaves can be cooked and eaten and used as remedies for various ailments, and a drumstick curry or soup helps relieve colds, fever and coughs.

He said that because it controls cholesterol, drumstick is beneficial for people with high blood pressure. It also has wide benefits for gas, indigestion, pox, breathing difficulty, inflammatory diseases, allergy, constipation, diabetes and liver and kidney disease, and is unmatched for purifying the blood, the specialist said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.